Our recent pack day on Saturday, July 23rd was our most organized pack day yet thanks to all of our hard-working volunteers. We were ahead of schedule the day before the pack day, so we were able to pack the care packages for our women Marines a day early. The rest we saved for packing the following day. We had a group of volunteers from Minnesota and a group from Wisconsin who had never attended a pack day before. They volunteered on both Friday and Saturday and had a great time. We thank them for traveling so far to be a part of the packing!

We had a total of 63 volunteers packing with us on Saturday, and the day went very smoothly. We packed and shipped 1,059 care packages for deployed Marines. We were finished packing an hour and a half earlier than expected, which was good, because everyone was ready for lunch by that point! We grilled up some delicious burgers and hot dogs, and we also served beans, potato salad and cookies for dessert.

Throughout the day, we sold raffle tickets for a copy of a ballot from the first Iraqi election. These ballots are a tribute to those who sacrificed their lives during Operation Iraqi Freedom. We raised $248 through raffle sales, and the proceeds went to our Purple Heart Hero Support™ program for our wounded warriors.

A few days after the pack day, CPP™ Coordinator Babs received a heartwarming email from Janice, one of the volunteers from Wisconsin, thanking us for such a wonderful pack day. Below is an excerpt from the email:

Hi Babs!

Just wanted to extend a big THANK YOU to all of the staff at Marine Parents!! I came down for helping with packing last Friday and Saturday. It was a great experience and I wanted to thank you all for your hospitality! I got the strong feeling that all of the employees there truly care about all of our guys over in Afghanistan (and all of our Marines), and as a Marine Parent I can't tell you how much that means. You guys all worked your butts off those days (and clearly for MANY days prior!!), and it is SOOO APPRECIATED!!! Also, the lunches both days were DELICIOUS!! Thank you for everything you do for all of our Marines and all of their families.